Mies Van der Rohe and his longtime partner Lily Reich were the designers who came up with the original Barcellona chair design. Currently though , the Barcelona chair is misattributed to Mies Rohe alone. It was designed for the German pavilion in the Barcelona world exhibition during 1929. The original design went through some changes in the material in the 50’s. Ever since 1929 this elegant furniture piece, the Barcelona chair has gained in popularity with the educated and the wealthy. That has driven a lot of manufacturers to produce these furniture items that many prefer to call Pavilion chair to get around the copyright issue. These replicas/reproductions are available over a wide range of prices as well as a range of quality. Even some design specifics might vary. It helps if consumers are aware of the quality to expect of these products . The original rights of reproduction were purchased by Knoll.
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Initial designs of the Rohe Barcelona chair Rohe Barcelona chairs used pig skin and color of the chairs were ivory. As stainless steel was not available at the time, metal legs of the X frame used to be bolted together. The pig skin was replaced by bovine leather later in commercial manufacture. Knoll got the license in 1953 and has been manufacturing the Barcelona chair ever since. Due to its popularity manufacturers from countries in Asia, South Africa and Europe have jumped in with Barcelona chair reproduction pieces that are known as pavilion chairs. Prices can range from $500 for bad replicas to $2000 to $2500 for premium products from these manufacturers.
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